Multiple seating consists of two or more adjacent seats disposed side-by-side in a row. Such seating is found in aircraft, but may also be found in other forms of transportation and in any place where a plurality of people congregate. Typically, such seating includes armrests, which have the function of defining an individual seating space and providing a support for the forearm. However, the lateral seat pitch is often small, and the armrest is suitable for a single use only. Simultaneous use of such an armrest is not possible and, as a result, adjacent users may become frustrated and annoyed because their armrest is in use by a neighbor.
In order to improve passenger comfort in aircraft whilst maintaining lateral seat pitch, it has been proposed to stagger adjacent seats so that the shoulders of adjacent passengers are not aligned.
It has also been proposed to arrange adjacent seats to face forwards and backwards. Such a configuration can give improved shoulder and elbow room. FIG. 1, for example, illustrates, in plan, a prior art aircraft seat configuration 10 having adjacent passengers facing in opposite directions. Elbow and shoulder room can be improved for a given lateral seat pitch, but engineering and certification problems arise in addition to poor perceived passenger acceptance. FIG. 2 shows, in plan, a prior art configuration of seats 20 in which a standard configuration 21 has lateral alignment. Elbow and shoulder room can be increased, as illustrated by the progressively greater stagger of seat arrangements 22, 23, 24. However, such staggered configurations also have engineering and certification problems, and may have poor customer acceptance.
Both prior proposals place passengers in unnatural positions and have low perceived acceptance. Both prior proposals also comprise relatively expensive solutions which may require substantial engineering changes to the supporting substrate.